A crisis of leadership

Yao Ming hardly recognizes his team anymore. Going into the season, they were the Houston Rockets, a playoff-bound team expected to boast one of the most potent offenses in the NBA under new coach Rick Adelman. Twenty-two games later, they still don the same red and white jerseys, but have somehow morphed into a mediocre .500 team struggling to stay out of the basement of the Southwest Division. After an embarrassing blowout at the hands of the 76ers earlier this week, Yao told the Houston Chronicle, "I feel like they traded me to another team."

Things have been bad in Houston the last two weeks and Yao is getting desperate. The night before the disaster in Philadelphia in another lopsided loss against a decidedly average Toronto team, an exasperated Yao said, "I feel this is the worst game I ever had in my career." He only had to wait about 24 hours before putting on an even worse performance, shooting an intolerable 3-of-11 against Sixers a team the Rockets beat by 50 points last season.

After Monday night's game in Philly, Yao called out his teammates, questioning their desire and their drive: "When you are soft yourself, everything will feel tough. It's not because they are so tough - it's because of how soft we are," he told the Chronicle. It was a bit of a digression from Yao's stance after the Toronto game, after which Titan Sports quoted him as saying, "I don't deserve to be a starter."

Others have argued that Yao is not the one who is the problem. Yu Jia, the well-known Chinese sports commentator, wrote on his blog that teammate Tracy McGrady is the Rockets' "No 1 problem" and he is the one who should be coming off the bench. It's a moot point for now since T-Mac sprained his ankle in the second quarter of the Sixers game and will probably be out for at least a couple games.

McGrady, though, expressed relief over Yao's condemnation of their team. He told a sports talk radio station in Houston that Yao was "just showing signs of leadership", saying Yao is the "franchise player" and it's his job to let his teammates know when they're doggin' it. It's an interesting role-reversal for T-Mac, who claimed to be the leader of the team upon last year's early playoff exit.

At any rate, T-Mac's likely absence over the next few games could spell trouble for the struggling Rockets, who face Detroit, Dallas and Orlando in the next three games. This would be the perfect time for Yao to establish himself as the team's leader, and turn his strong words into action on the court.

(China Daily 12/13/2007 page22)